this weekend was glorious – sunshine throughout and wonderfully warm temperatures. i didn’t really feel like cooking but equally i wanted to eat summery food that fitted the weather and my lazy, happy mood.

this stew was pulled together to use up the last few courgettes from our garden and various bits from the fridge. no real recipe but i’ll share what i did – uncooked prawns were marinated for about an hour with garlic, red chilli, torn basil leaves and olive oil. i then scooped most of garlic, chilli and oil out into a pan and used this as the base for slowly cooking a bulb of sliced fennel, until it was soft and beginning to sweeten (i added a glug of white wine to help it along, part way through).

i then added the courgettes and a handful of cherry tomatoes, also from the garden. once the tomatoes started to break down in went the prawns, the zest and juice of a lemon plus plenty more basil, until the prawns cooked through. i served it with a drizzle of olive oil and we ate it with warm ciabatta, sliced and smeared with butter, to mop up the juices.